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That said, your description of the interface sounds pretty unusable. It
doesn't provide any visual cues about the relationships without having to
click? mmmmmmm Your company may want to rethink its design a little.
_______
Thank you Sean (and everybody else who offered up opinions)!
Late yesterday afternoon, because I kept asking questions, we finally got to
the point where we agreed that it's not actually a parent/child relationship
at all. The only thing that affected it was which end of the relationship
you created it from, which becomes irrelevant once it's created. Some of the
relationships are directional, some are not. That's all clear from the type
and subtype classifications (e.g. client/vendor or personal friend).
Anyway, the PM agreed we should get rid of those terms from the interface,
and asked me to create a screenshot of what I would propose! So I don't even
need alternative terms; playing with layout allows me to do something like:
Add/Edit Relationship
Between X
as [type/subtype]
And Y
as [auto-completed fields with reciprocal type/subtype]
So I don't have to explain at all what was meant by Parent/Child!! :-)
I'm happy. Now as long as they actually implement my ideas....
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